


A Boy and His Dog/ A Dog and His Boy

by Lotl101



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 21:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4721675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lotl101/pseuds/Lotl101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look in the heads of a Spelling Partnership of a different kind</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Boy and His Dog/ A Dog and His Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DevieKlutz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevieKlutz/gifts).



> So, this is only about 13 months late, but better than never. I defaulted when I couldn't finish in time, and over the year-ish have been pecking at it. I'm not amazingly happy with it, sorry recipient! But I figured I wouldn't get it more polished than this without it taking another year. Sorry!

Christopher Rodriguez, known to all as Kit, woke up to a wet nose nudging his feet. His dog, a beautiful black lab mix, stared at him completely unrepentant.

 _Food?_  He wagged his tail.

 

This was a new phenomenon, these conversations. Kit had always talked to his dog, Ponch, but until recently he had never gotten a response back. Well, he’d always gotten _some_ response, but never one so clear. Where before he had to interpret tail wags and barks, ear positions and play bows, now Kit could receive his response in words. As any animal guardian can tell you, this is a long-wished for hope and dream to be able to ask an animal if it is truly happy and healthy. As someone who can understand the responses, Kit can tell you that being woken up to barks of _food?_ was even more annoying when he started understanding it.

 

Kit was a normal boy in many ways. He had a dog, a mother, a father and two sisters. He went to school, complained about history homework and did not always get along with his sisters. But that, dear gentlereader, is where his so-called normality ended. He spoke the language of Life, and swore to use it to slow entropy and to fight the Fallen One.  A side effect of all this was understanding his dog’s barks as if they were English. Granted, with so much of dog communication being in subtle, non-verbal cues, it came through as if talking to a toddler. It was new, this communication, but so very wonderful.

 

“Alright, alright, alright, I’m getting up. I’ll get you breakfast” Kit gently pushed Ponch’s muzzle away from his feet and got out of bed. Quickly performing his morning ablations and getting dressed, Kit noticed the time on his clock. 7:15 AM. No wonder he hadn’t woken up to his alarm, it wasn’t due to go off for another 2 hours! He turned it off and thought that one day he would make it to the alarm on a weekend without being woken up by his dog waiting for breakfast and a walk. Still, they were fun walks and he loved his dog no matter how much he would have loved sleeping in on a rare lazy Saturday morning.

 

Finally ready, Kit brought Ponch downstairs and fed him before getting out a bowl of cereal for himself. They both happily chomped away at their food, slurping and lapping as biology dictated. When all was consumed, both dog chow and teenager chow, Kit washed both their bowls and grabbed a bag and a leash.  “Ready Ponch?” he asked, as he attached the leash to the dog’s collar. Ability to communicate or no, there was no stopping Ponch when he saw squirrels. One or two barks of _squirrel!!_ and an excited tail wag were all the warning he’d give before taking off after them if Kit wasn’t paying enough attention to hold on to the leash well and good and set his feet with every step.

 

And though his fascination for squirrels would never diminish, Kit found that sometimes Ponch would tell him about his world on their walks. When he was sniffing at a tree or a hydrant, in addition to tail wagging there would also be comments listing other dogs who’ve been by recently or what, ahem, message he was leaving for them. And of course, there was the constant litany of _SQUIREL_ warnings right before he tried chasing them.

 

~~~

 

Ponch, or Arruf as the dogs knew him, was a hungry puppy. Well, not a puppy anymore, though his dam would say he acted like one often enough. He was only starting, after this long while, to tell his person what he needed. He was always listening from the start to what the Boss was saying. But it seemed like they were understanding each other better lately, ever since Khiit found that thing that smelled of Knowing. When he asked for a belly rub Khiit didn’t look at his dam to ask if it was almost food time, and when Ponch wanted a treat Khiit didn’t try and play with him instead.

 

Yes, Ponch had a good life, he thought. Not like “Tinkerbell” down the block, who couldn’t even tell his people that he didn’t like the name. Ponch liked his human name well enough, he even thought of himself by it. And most important, Khiit gave him treats, took him for walkies and let him chase squirrels! They were a lot of fun to chase, but Ponch loved talking to Khiit and his friend Nhita more. They could tell him of places he hadn’t been to before, or even his sire or dam. And Nhita always gave the best belly rubs.

 

But for some reason, Nhita’s littermate could understand him but Khiit’s couldn’t. It was all very confusing, and made him want something simpler. Like a treat. Maybe he’d ask to go visit Hroof and Grrowar at Khiit’s pack-leader’s house. They usually knew the best ways to get food out of all sorts of visitors. Even if some of them smelled funny, all of the pack-leader’s visitors smelled _nice_ and _kind_ and _good_. Maybe they’d know what had changed.

 

Ponch trotted up to Khiit and put his chin on Khiit’s leg. _Walkies?_ He asked. _Wanna talk to Annie and Monty_ , he added, giving the dog’s human names.

 

 

Yeah, life had gotten a little weird in the Rodriguez household lately, with a talking dog, a world gate in his sister’s closet and arguing technology. Kit could never regret the changes in his dog though, or the closeness they now shared. Or maybe Kit was Ponch’s boy? Sometimes it wasn’t clear as clear as it used to be. The line was blurred, as it often is in wizardry. All they could do was talk it out and love one another, and thank the Powers that Be that they were thrown together in this Life.


End file.
